After Midnight We're Gonna Let It All Hang Down: Late Night Crafting

This is what happens when one tries to take blogging pictures of oneself at 3:00am...one finds themselves utterly unable to aim correctly at one's head to capture the beauty of a late-night crafted item. I was in a crazed crafting mode last night - not so much over this modified "bonnie band," but over my latest rekindled obsession. The art of the mix tape or CD in my case, but it will always be a "tape" no matter what format that it's mixed in.

I used to make mixes all the time, and as of late, instead of doing craft swaps I've been doing CD swaps. I'm a little borderline obsessive about the mixology of it all. Has any one out there ever seen/read High Fidelity? I'm like the girl version of Rob when it comes to mixes and music. There is an art to making a great mix! A great mix will subtely lead you through musical peaks and valleys. A great mix can relax you, energize you, empathize with you and just plain rock your socks.

So I thought it would be fun to give you the tracklists of the last few mixes that I've made. Copy the mixes for yourself or use them as jump-off points to create your own! Maybe you'll find a new favorite song :)

I <3 Music April, 2007

This mix was supposed to be your all-time favorite songs by your all-time favorite bands. I'm rubbish at choosing stuff like that! So I picked a few faves from Junior High, High School, College and Now and mixed them up. It's an interesting representation of my everchanging musical "phases"

1. Jump, Little Children - Not Today
2. Radiohead - Paranoid Android
3. Bjork - Army of Me
4. Weezer - Hashpipe
5. Beck - Nicotine and Gravy
6. A Tribe Called Quest - Da Booty
7. Salt-N-Pepa - Shoop
8. Prince - Gett Off
9. Joni Mitchell - Raised on Robbery
10. Ben Folds Five - Steve's Last Night in Town
11. The Beatles - Blackbird
12. Rise Against - Swing Life Away
13. Jeff Buckley covering Bob Dylan - If You See Her, Say Hello (Live)

Coffee Shop Mix May, 2007

1. Billie Holiday - Embraceable You
2. Neko Case - Star Witness
3. Jamie Cullum covering Radiohead - High and Dry
4. Ani Difranco - 32 Flavors
5. Dire Straits - Romeo and Juliet
6. Led Zeppelin - Going to California
7. Jill Scott - It's Love
8. Madeleine Peyroux- I'm Alright
9. Ella Fitzgerald - Black Coffee
10. Jill Scott - Do you remember me?
11. India Arie - Wonderful
12. The Ditty Bops - Wishful Thinking
13. Madeleine Peyroux - Dance Me to the End of Love
14. Jamie Cullum covering Hendrix - The Wind Cries Mary
15. Anita O'Day - Peel Me a Grape
16. Nellie McKay - I Wanna Get Married
17. Jeff Buckley - Calling You (Live)

Summer Sun June 2007

This mix is cut into two different track lists. "Summer Days" for driving out in the sunshine and "Summer Nights" for driving at night with the windows down.

Summer Days

1. The Beatles - Good Morning, Good Morning
2. Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side
3. Bruce Springsteen - 10th Avenue Freeze-Out
4. They Might Be Giants - Why Does the Sun Shine?
5. Francis Dunnery - Too Much Saturn
6. The Damnwells - Golden Days
7. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - American Girl
8. Dave Matthews Band - Stay

Summer Nights

9. Scissor Sisters - Take Your Mama
10. Marvin Gaye - Got to Give It Up, Part 1
11. Yerba Buena - Electric Boogaloo
12. Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
13. R.E.M. - Night Swimming
14. Luka Bloom covering LL Cool J - I Need Love
15. Indigo Girls - Galileo (Live)

Indie Mix June, 2007

1. Aimee Mann - One
2. Eisley - Trolley Wood
3. The Ditty Bops - Sister Kate
4. The Flaming Lips - The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song
5. Ben Harper - Both Sides of the Gun
6. Ryan Adams - Burning Photographs
7. Regina Spektor - Samson
8. The Postal Service - Clark Gable
9. Feist - Mushaboom
10. The Shins - Sea Legs
11. Dropping Daylight - Lucy
12. Howie Day - Ghost and Beams of Light (Live at Penn State)
13. Jump, Little Children - Say Goodnight
14. Better Than Ezra - The Stars
15. Jeff Buckley - Last Goodbye